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Because of Roethlisberger's six-game suspension, the Steelers already know they must prepare another quarterback to play when the season starts. From the way coach Mike Tomlin dealt out snaps during the voluntary practices that concluded Thursday, it seems all but certain that Leftwich will be that quarterback.

While Tomlin isn't ruling out third-year pro Dennis Dixon or longtime backup Charlie Batch, the coach said the way that playing time was distributed this spring is an indication of where the Steelers are going.

When Roethlisberger was around, he took nearly all of the snaps with the starters. When he wasn't, Leftwich did.

"I'm not going to name a No. 1 -- I don't need to," Tomlin said after the Steelers held their only practice all spring at Heinz Field. "I think how we distributed reps is an indication at this juncture."

Because Roethlisberger can't practice during his six-game suspension, Tomlin said it becomes even more important for the quarterback to receive quality work during training camp. Tomlin isn't ready to detail how the snaps will be divided during training camp, other than there won't be enough for all four quarterbacks to equally prepare.

"I think he's going to have the mentality like he always has when he reports to training camp," Tomlin said of Roethlisberger. "And that's to put himself in position to be the very best he can and be what we need him to be, and prepare himself for the season. He's still going to have any opportunity to do all these things (to get ready to play)."

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Tomlin also isn't concerned -- at least not publicly -- about the practices that Roethlisberger will miss during a suspension that runs into October. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has the option to shorten the ban to four games.

"Ben's a pro," Tomlin said. "When the time and the opportunity to play come for him, I'm sure he'll be excited about that."

While the Steelers brought back Leftwich in a trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following Roethlisberger's suspension, Tomlin said he intentionally tried not to reduce the amount of practice time Dixon received this spring.

he will lose 3 of 4. sorry.. im in florida.. i seen his magic last year in tampa..

if we waste the time. lets waste the time making a young gun better.

tomlin may lose his job on this one, arians wants leftwich because he cant run.
arians will take tomlin out if it blows up. but arians is used to that, he got cleaned out in cleve town the same way.. a fire sale. and he ruined couch's career.

nah he played well in spot duty for us 2 years ago...hes got a big arm that will be good for guys like wallace and sanders and keep defenses honest while pouncey and mendenhall take over the world.

i hate arians for his man love for leftwich, but theres worst options. keep in mind that TB and ATL were terrible teams when leftwich was there and it wasnt because of leftwich...the steelers got the defense, and the weapons to win some games until ben comes back and goes ape **** and plays **** off out of his mind

nah he played well in spot duty for us 2 years ago...hes got a big arm that will be good for guys like wallace and sanders and keep defenses honest while pouncey and mendenhall take over the world.

i hate arians for his man love for leftwich, but theres worst options. keep in mind that TB and ATL were terrible teams when leftwich was there and it wasnt because of leftwich...the steelers got the defense, and the weapons to win some games until ben comes back and goes ape **** and plays **** off out of his mind

How much time did Dixon actually get with the starters? It seems that every time we get an OTA update it was Lefty working with the starters while Batch and Dixon sat and waited. I may be wrong here but it seems like Tomlin was going to go with Leftwich right from the start unless he really sucked.

Either way, Byron will do fine with us, he was good while he was here in spot duty and moved the offense well. He did have some issues in the red zone as I remember but overall he was just what we needed when Ben was out of the game. I'm sure he'll be fine.

he will lose 3 of 4. sorry.. im in florida.. i seen his magic last year in tampa..if we waste the time. lets waste the time making a young gun better.

tomlin may lose his job on this one, arians wants leftwich because he cant run.
arians will take tomlin out if it blows up. but arians is used to that, he got cleaned out in cleve town the same way.. a fire sale. and he ruined couch's career.

it may get ugly now...

I wish people would stop evaluating Lefty by what he did in tampa......2 totally different classes of talent.
Byron don't have to win games for us....he just has to make sure he don't lose any of them with mistakes.

A great example is Culpeppers career....in Minnesota he had great players around him and he did well...went to Detroit,Miami and oakland and the rest of his career was sh*t, because of the players around him.

it pisses me off they wont give dixon a chance, his knock is lack of experience and now he has the chance to get some quality experience and they put him on the back burner. moves like this are gonna ruin his chance at ever having a decent career. team up the lack of experience with arians lack or creativity and you get a ruined prospect and leftwich as a default starter

it pisses me off they wont give dixon a chance, his knock is lack of experience and now he has the chance to get some quality experience and they put him on the back burner. moves like this are gonna ruin his chance at ever having a decent career. team up the lack of experience with arians lack or creativity and you get a ruined prospect and leftwich as a default starter

In TB he was set up to fail, he'll fill in fine...No worries!! FUBA though!!

Originally Posted by K Train

nah he played well in spot duty for us 2 years ago...hes got a big arm that will be good for guys like wallace and sanders and keep defenses honest while pouncey and mendenhall take over the world.

i hate arians for his man love for leftwich, but theres worst options. keep in mind that TB and ATL were terrible teams when leftwich was there and it wasnt because of leftwich...the steelers got the defense, and the weapons to win some games until ben comes back and goes ape **** and plays **** off out of his mind